Lost Series #1

The Toronto Blue Jays have finally lost a series...it sounds weird, but after a close 8-6 defeat at the hands of the Kansas City Royals earlier today, the Jays 6-series winning streak. The difference this series was pitching. Kansas City had three solidly pitched games. We only had one. That was the difference and I think the injury bug might be starting to bite now.

Tomorrow, I'll be heading down to the Rogers Centre to see the Jays take on the Orioles. Halladay's on the mound, so that should be fun. I'm also looking forward to snagging a ball or two while I'm there.

We voted in our student council elections today. As I wrote in my last post, I have been really busy running a presidential campaign. I feel really good about my chances and I'm especially confident after the speeches yesterday. We're hoping for the results to come out tomorrow. Wish me luck. *Fingers crossed*

-D

So the Joyful Ride Continues

Eighteen games into their new season, the Toronto Blue Jays have the best record in baseball. As a Jays fan, is there any other statement that would make me happier? Last night at US Cellular Field, the Jays put on an offensive fireworks show, exploding for 21 hits and 14 runs. At the same time, Brian Tallet, Bill Murphy and Bryan Bullington combined for a 6 hit shutout. It came on the heels of the announcement that Ricky Romero and BJ Ryan were headed for the DL. With a slew of pitchers now on the DL, it gives you a smile to see the unlikely candidates stepping up to do a fine job and the offense picking them up big time.

They're playing again at US Cellular tonight and have already pounded Buerhle for 2 runs in the top of the 2nd. Brian Burres is making his first start of the season for the Blue Jays tonight. If they could keep up this consistency through the next 5 months, the Jays will be in the picture for October. But again, A LOT of things can happen, so just enjoy the good play while you can!

D'you know the NFL Draft was today??

I've been really busy at my school running for Student Council President. Last week was LONG and next week will be even more intense with the speeches on Wednesday and vote on Thursday. I'm really looking for a challenge by running for this position. It's a risk, I know, but I really want to make our school a better place. Wish me luck.

-D

PS: I snagged a ball last Saturday when I went to the game against Oakland!

How Bout 'Em Jays?!

If the Jays keep playing like this, they're going to make the playoffs no problem. With a record of 6-3 going into tonight's game, the Jays have once again broken out the bats in Minnesota. In the 8th inning, they're leading the Twins 10-2. I can't say enough about this team's offense. Everybody's contributing to the hit barrages too. Michael Barrett hit a homer tonight. Lind has a dozen RBIs. Snider was the difference in the game a couple night's ago. Hill's hot. Wells' doing well. It's terrific to see this team start off the year with a fabulous run, as I believe it sets the tone for the rest of the year.

I actually have hope that they can contend come September. There is a feeling that the 2009 Jays are an organized team. While our bullpen have not...excelled, but the bats are making up for it big time. It seems like every night, when somebody on the team's not doing so well, another player is stepping up to fill his shoes. That's the way the game is supposed to be played. That's the way that championships are won.

The Jays are not necessarily the most conventional contenders this year. We don't have $200 million to spend like some clubs. We have nights when the Rogers Centre is not even a quarter full. But with the way this team's playing, I doubt those days with 12 000 fans in the seats are going to last.

To be honest, I am a bit surprised with the way the Jays have roared out of the gate. The previous few years, it has always felt like they had no chance since the beginning. And now, there is hope. All I can say is that I will be there to support this team along the way, no matter what happens.

-D

PS: Happy Jackie Robinson Day!

MLB Predictions

Here they are, my predictions for the 2009 MLB Season:

AL West

Team Record GB

Los Angeles Angels 95-67 --
Texas Rangers 84-78 11
Oakland Athletics 80-82 15
Seattle Mariners 69-93 26


AL Central

Team Record GB

Cleveland Indians 90-72 --
Kansas City Royals 86-76 4
Minnesota Twins 85-77 5
Chicago White Sox 83-79 7
Detroit Tigers 74-88 16

AL East

Team Record GB

New York Yankees 94-68 --
Tampa Bay Rays 91-71 3
Toronto Blue Jays 88-74 6
Boston Red Sox 86-76 8
Baltimore Orioles 70-92 24

Wild Card: Tampa Bay Rays

NL West

Team Record GB

Colorado Rockies 87-75 --
Los Angeles Dodgers 83-79 4
San Francisco Giants 79-83 8
Arizona Diamondbacks 75-87 12
San Diego Padres 70-92 17

NL Central

Team Record GB

Milwaukee Brewers 97-65 --
Chicago Cubs 96-66 1
Houston Astros 88-74 9
St. Louis Cardinals 86-76 11
Cincinnati Reds 81-81 13
Pittsburgh Pirates 78-84 16

NL East

Team Record GB

Philadelphia Phillies 99-63 --
Atlanta Braves 91-71 8
New York Mets 89-73 10
Florida Marlins 82-80 17
Washington Nationals 64-98 35

NL Wild Card: Chicago Cubs

There you have it, let's see what happens 159 games down the road!

The Blue Jays are actually leading their division right now, with a record of 3-1!!! Woohoo!!

Last night, I was down at the Rogers Centre for the match against the Tigers. Brandon Inge's homer in the 6th inning landed in my section, 9 seats away, but I was impeded from making an attempt at grabbing it as I was seated near the aisle, on the other side of where the ball landed.

Also met Zack Hample last night! That was real exciting! Check out his blog, if you don't know who he is. He's authored 2 books, with a third coming, and has nearly 4000 baseballs in his collection. Got him to sign my ticket stub and we had a nice conversation together. You are so cool, Zack!

I wanted to comment on the fan behaviour at the Rogers Centre on Opening Night. If you haven't read the news, the Tigers were pulled off the field in the top of the 8th inning as several baseballs were thrown at the left fielder. There were other projectiles on the field, such as paper airplanes. Jim Leyland felt that the situation was dangerous enough that he decided to pull his team. The fans, who were uninformed of the situation, became rowdy and threw even more things onto the field. It was very chaotic and extremely embarrassing. It doesn't not represent Toronto as a city, and certainly does not represent the Blue Jays fanbase. To be honest, I was shocked at how long the delay was. It was really appalling, and I never hope to see such a thing happen in Toronto, ever again. It's just so immature!

In some sad news today, 22 year old Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart passed away in a car accident mere hours after he shut out the A's through 6 innings. I read the MLB story by Tom Singer and it was very heartbreaking. Think about it. This young kid, with a well-merited spot in the starting rotation of a major league team, comes out one night, shuts down the A's. The next thing you know, he's killed in a hit-and-run. It's beyond sad. May he rest in peace!

-D

The Boys of Summer

Boy am I happy baseball is BACK!!!

The banners, the home made signs, the thundersticks, foam fingers, smell of the grass, crack of the bat, fans begging for autographs, negotiating with security for better seats...those are the dog days of summer, hanging out at the ballpark!

Funny how I say summer. Today, on this the Opening Day of the 33rd Blue Jays season, snow fell in Toronto. I'm not kidding. When I woke up this morning, the temperature was 1 degree Celsius (about 33 F) and snow flakes were actually flying in the sky. It's sort of reminiscent of the first ever game in Jays history, where they had to get snowplows to help clear the field at Exhibition Stadium. But this is the Rogers Centre, we've got a roof, and rain or shine, we play ball! Games in the South Side of Chicago and Fenway were postponed due to similar inclement weather.

I wonder if this is going to be like the April we had in 2007, where about two dozen delays were blamed on the weather. Remember how the Cleveland Indians cancelled 4 games because a foot of snow fell courtesy of winds from Lake Erie and had to temporarily move to Milwaukee only to be met with 6 more inches of the white stuff? That was a brutally cold month, where I remember watching fans in Atlanta huddled together in blankets at Braves games. That was when the big sluggers were afraid to swing because it stung their hand badly if the ball struck the end of the bat.

Maybe we should be optimistic. They ARE forecasting the weather to turn much nicer by the Easter long weekend. I'm just glad baseball's back and be sure look for my predictions on the league standings tomorrow.

So the Jays have started the year 1-0. It was quite a game too, 12-5 the final score against the Tigers. Adam Lind is in all likelihood going to be the MLB leader in RBIs through the next couple of days. He collected 6 Ribbies tonight with a fabulous 4 hit performance. Travis Snider knocked a home run. Vernon Wells smashed a double in the first. Every Jay had a hit. Now, if the pitching could hold up, and our offense keeps pounding opponents night after night like this, the Jays could capture the division crown.

There was some very appalling fan disturbances at the Rogers Centre tonight. People were throwing objects onto the field, and the game was almost forfeited in Detroit's favour. It was just nasty stuff, and I hope it doesn't ever happen again!

-D

April

Well, so tomorrow is April Fool's. A quarter of the year has already gone by, isn't that amazing?

I will be going to two more Raptor games in April, on the 5th and 12th. The 12th is Fan Appreciation Day, so that should be real fun. Speaking of the Raps, they've been doing quite well lately. Where was these intense efforts early on in the season? I think Bryan Colangelo needs to reshape this team over the summer. On paper, we're a middle of the pack team, but I think a few moves here and there could push us to the position we were in in 2006-2007.

The Jays season is starting next Monday. I can't wait! Ricky Romero secured the 4th spot in the starting rotation yesterday. That was a bit of a surprise for me. The fifth spot is still undecided, but I think Scott Richmond would be a good choice for it.

My leadership retreat over the weekend was incredibly awesome. I brought back a lot of new friendships, new memories, and new knowledge. I always have this way of measuring a long day. When I go to bed at night, I always think back to what I did that morning. If it seems like an eternity ago, then I count it as a long day. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were all very long days. But they were fun too. It was amazing to share that experience with 60 other prospective leaders, and more than a dozen more members of the TDSB SuperCouncil. It's an experience that I will never forget, and probably one that will prove to be life-changing when I look back on it in the future.

-D

Weekend Getaway

Was down at the Air Canada Centre for the Raptors-Bucks game yesterday. I have to say, that was one of the best games I watched this season so far. We led from beginning to end, won by 9. Bargnani poured in more than 20 points again. But the crowd was at best two thirds full. Can't really blame 'em though, Wednesday night, against an 11th place team, and the Raps aren't the most attractive team in the league right now.

I heard the Leafs had a 0.03% chance of making the playoffs. But that was earlier this week, so who knows, might be down to zero by now.

Blue Jays start regular season play in just 2 weeks! So excited! Last year, the roof was closed for all 3 games I went to. I hope I get to watch some outdoor baseball this year.

It's been a busy week, and I'll be at a leadership camp over the weekend. It's been gloomy and rainy here in Toronto for most of this week. But the weekend getaway should be fun/

-D

The Arc of History

Since mid-November, I have been working on a writing project-a book.

The title is "The Arc of History" and the subject is, what else but the 2008 Presidential Election. Mainly, I wanted a record of history for myself, written by myself. I wanted for some way for the legacy of this election to carry on. And since I changed so much as a person during these past two years, I wanted to record some of the more personal moments during the campaign.

Right now, I have about 47 000 words done, and by my projection, the book should be about 95 000-100 000 words in length after it's finished. Since I'm extremely busy with activities in school, it's taking me quite a while to put the project together. I hope to have the manuscript done by late July. Then, I will decide whether I want to self publish this, or contact a publishing company. In the meanwhile, I wanted to share a few excerpts from the book with you. Feel free to make any suggestions! I'll need it.

So today, I'm going to share a bit from the chapter titled "IOWA":

I let out a chuckle when Keith Olbermann proclaimed on the January 2nd, 2008 edition of Countdown: “Nearly two years after the first candidate announced, a year since the heavy hitters declared, somebody somewhere finally votes…” The modern American election cycle does, occasionally, want to make me want to laugh. It seems a bit strange that in a country so technologically and economically advanced, it would take over 2 years, more than half a presidential term to select an actual President. It gets even funnier. On the same Countdown show, Olbermann says: “Iowa, consisting of 1/100th of the nation‘s population, an estimated 6 percent of whom will caucus tomorrow, meaning the first milestone of the campaign to elect the 44th president will be determined by .06 of 1 percent of the country.” Somewhere in American politics, there’s a batch of irony and hilarity mixed in with the exhilarating caucuses and serious debates and relentless TV ads. You know how long it takes for the Canadians to dissolve Parliament, call an election, inform the country, hold the debates, run the ads, knock on the doors, vote, elect a new government, and swear in the new Cabinet? Less than 8 weeks!

Iowa is the focal point of every election, being the first state to cast ballots (or count heads in the Democrats’ case) in the primary season. For some candidates, Iowa is the difference between political termination and political stardom. The Iowa Caucuses cost a thick stack of money as well. The price tag on the 2008 caucuses was around $60 million. This encompassed the ad blitz which hit Iowa all throughout the holiday season. In virtually every city and town in the Hawkeye State, during practically every commercial break on TV or radio, Iowans were bombasted with campaign messages from literally every candidate, Democrat and Republican. And since Iowa is First in the Nation, this means that the slate of candidates has yet to be whittled. In 2008, this meant choosing between 17 candidates. This is no easy task, as candidates in the same party support, more or less, the same policies and present similar agendas. It ends up being much like a high school student council election, where most votes are won by popularity and character, not substance.

There was one thing that was abundant before Iowans went to caucus-the candidate debates. These debates, and there’s a massive stack of the tapes somewhere in Rockefeller Center, were solely between candidates within one party. Whether they were radio debates, or good ol’ podium debates, or even YouTube debates, there were 17 of them in total before January 3rd, 2008. The YouTube debates were arguably a little bit interesting, but the rest were generally bland in nature as candidates within the party pick at each other’s bones. The last Democratic one came on December 13th, 2007, three weeks before Iowans went out to caucus. That debate, held in Johnston, Iowa, part of Des Moines Metropolitan Area, was carried by CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC, three channels which would enjoy the highest ratings during the 2008 presidential election. In a turning point election like 2008, rigorous debate was for certain to be had.

Debate performance was one viscous yardstick to how strong a candidate was. The more set-in-stone and hard measuring tool was your polls. The pollsters were enjoying every bit of the ’08 campaign as well, for this was their chance to shine in national spotlight. Things were so tight for the Democrats in Iowa that multiple polls from multiple polling companies were released daily. For the first half of 2007, the polls in Iowa showed a competitive race between Hillary Clinton, the first viable woman candidate for president and John Edwards, who came in second in Iowa in 2004. But as fall came and the leaves started changing colour, the scope of the tide in Iowa started to turn as well. Barack Obama’s numbers began to slowly but steadily rise, thanks to his effective internet campaign and Edwards’ support began to fade ever so slightly. By December, Obama started jumping ahead in a few polls, and the race was declared a three way dead heat between the three main candidates-Clinton, Obama, and Edwards.

Ironically, I had absolutely no idea what a how the caucuses work when Iowans went out to do exactly just that on January 3rd. Though these words were tossed around in the media like a football, I was actually confused as to what the difference was between a caucus and a primary. Pundits expected you to understand their jargonous conversations, so naturally, I consulted the internet. And thanks to Wikipedia, the caucusing process was explained to me in a stunningly clear fashion. It turns out that Democrats and Republicans have different ways of going about caucusing. The Democrats use what I perceive to be a very traditional and kind of fun method of, basically, counting heads. All the caucus-goers gather in a spacious common room, usually in a community institution such as a church, library or occasionally, a neighbor’s house. Each candidate is assigned one specific corner/area in the room. All caucus-goers are welcome, as long as they are registered under the party whose caucus they plan to participate in, even if their registration was just 5 minutes old, or had just switched at the door. As well, a rarity in the Iowa caucuses is that 17 year olds are allowed to participate, provided that they reach the universal suffrage age by the time of the general election.

Again, each candidate is assigned a specific spot in the room, in which all his or her supporters will gather to form a “preference group”. Usually, the scene is pleasantly raucous once the actual caucusing starts. Everybody has 30 minutes to align themselves into preference groups, usually coordinated by energetic and vocal precinct captains. For half an hour, democracy shines! There is a plethora of debate in the room between the candidates, and some fierce competition for undecided voters. Preference groups attempt to enlarge themselves as much as possible by dragging anyone who is willing to stand with them. After this half hour period is up, a preliminary head count is done to weed out the “unviable” candidates-those whose preference groups account for less than 15% of all participants. One easy example to comprehend the process is if there are 100 caucus-goers, the candidates with less than 15 supporters after the first 30 minutes are deemed “unviable”. After that, a second 30 minute alignment period gets underway. Those in the “unviable” camps have two choices, join a group that is viable, or band together with other unviable supporters to form a larger, viable group for one of the candidates. Though the process demands little of the average caucus-goer-go to your local school gym, stand in line for 20 minutes, and go home-the negotiation that goes on in the caucuses is intense and indeed, very healthily democratic.

Comments?

-D